Automotive Suppliers Must Manage Data for IMDS Compliance

Derrik Snider, IMDS DATA LLC
| 07-13-2017

Suppliers of electronics parts and assemblies to the auto industry are finding IPC’s voluntary material data reporting system (IPC-1752A) insufficient for automotive customers. The auto industry has adopted the International Material Data System (IMDS), which has different reporting requirements than IPC.

IMDS and IPC-1752A are different tools for reporting materials data, created by separate industries for different purposes. Suppliers of electronic parts and assemblies that will be part of a car must register their materials data in the IMDS database and obtain an IMDS number that will be required on a PPAP. Lower-tier suppliers are required by many higher-tier customers to provide the material data that IMDS requires as a condition of PPAP approval.

If a PCB fabricator has comprehensive and complete data describing all material substances in an assembly (in IPC or an equivalent format), it can provide its automotive customer with sufficient data to comply with IMDS registration.

For example, Figure 1A shows a portion of a hypothetical IPC material composition declaration (MCD) for two items on a supplier’s BOM. Figure 1B illustrates how the same data on the two items would appear as part of an IMDS report. The arrows show how the IPC data would translate to the IMDS format. Because the IPC data in Figure 1a is sufficient for IMDS, entering the data in the IMDS system would be relatively straightforward. Note that in Figure 1b the components would have to be correctly placed on the IMDS Tree Level for the part, and that material substance weights would have to be converted to percentages, a tedious and time-consuming task for many components.

To read the full version of this article which appeared in the July 2017 issue of The PCB Magazine, click here.